The Price of Wifi
by swells55
Summary: Carol needed Wifi in bustling 21st century New York. Will she find it? (One Shot)


_Hey y'all, this is just a one-shot I decided to do for fun after I saw a prompt on tumblr. Please bear with me, it was only for the LOLs. 3 hope you enjoy it._

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It was a fine Thursday morning in the busy streets of New York City. The hustle of the city was a sea of tilted heads looking at screens, otherwise, tired eyes that glazed over detail since their destination was the only thing in sight. It was a blur of grey three pieces suits and blazers, pencil skirts, and professional attire that marked the part of the city where most business was conducted. Carol, whose massive lush fur coat of sparkling auburn distinguished her from the rest, was amidst the hubbub, searching desperately for somewhere that provided internet. She needed to buy something for the dinner she had planned to cook later that day: a Lancashire Hotpot. It would be the most complex recipe that she would attempt, having had the culinary arts as a stress relief hobby from her day job. She worked at a furniture company as manager of the buyer department, responsible for international imports and customers. Cooking fine cuisine was the only way she could tolerate having to look at weird Scandinavian names of chairs and tables for more than 5 hours a day. But since her phone was failing to connect to her server, she ducked into a café for some wifi.

Therese hated coffee, but she had worked as a barista in The Cup Hub for 3 years, struggling to make it as a professional photographer. Everyday, she would open up the store, look at the familiar storefront of various gluten-free power bars and funky juice smoothie names, wondering to herself, "What am I doing here?" As a photographer, she supposed her aim in life was to search for beauty, but the most beautiful part of her day was getting off work at 5pm every day, going home, and possibly pass out from exhaustion. She was so easily tired these days. In her boredom, she grew weary of what lie outside of the coffee shop.

She liked her coworker, Didi, who was a spiritual type that didn't believe in the "Internet". She never allowed people access to the wifi network (even though they had one) because she'd rather people communicated and had a nice conversation when they had coffee, rather than to connect their phones and completely ignore anyone else around them. Luckily, they never put the "wifi here" sticker, so no one ever protested. Until she walked in.

A blonde woman in a pink beret, suited with a decadent fur coat and sunglasses, walked in the Cup Hub, looking utterly distressed and confused. Therese watched from the back side of the counter, since Didi was on cashier duty. Her eyes were wide, watching this mysterious stranger order a beverage, like the thousands and millions before her. But somehow, Therese thought the way she stood there and existed, was something special. The stranger stared at the overhead menu for a few seconds before saying something.

"May I have a flat white please?" It was a womanly voice of depth and lightness. She removed her sunglasses to reveal a pair of cosmic grey eyes. Didi took the order and started making the coffee.

"I'm sorry, would you guys happen to have Wifi I could use?" It was pleading, and the woman's tone suggested that it was the only reason why she was in here, of all places. Therese was looking on, hungry to see if Didi would react the way she always did: With an almost annoying zenness that was reasonable but at the same time, infuriating.

"I'm sorry Madam. I believe that as humans in this 21st century, we are still capable of using our own life energies to create bonds and connections with one another. Therefore, this concept of wifi is benign to me. I apologise."

Didi, with her nose ring and harem trousers, gave the woman a little bow, who in turn, was shocked to see anyone talk to her in such a way. She let out a small "oh" and took her drink to sit in the booth that was near where Therese was standing. She felt her pulse quicken. Her eyes landed on Therese, and suddenly contorted her face into a sensuous smile, every wrinkle like a hidden meaning that was waiting to be discovered. She mouthed, "hello" to her. Therese wished she had her camera, for she finally found a piece of beauty in her mundane everyday living. But the woman looked stressed, holding her coffee and phone in each hand. She must've really needed the wifi.

Therese looked around to see if there was any other customer around. It was deserted, for the time that work started was around 9am, and it was 10, which mean the next rush wouldn't come until around lunchtime. Didi went to take her meditation break as usual, so it was just her and the woman. Before Therese realized what she was doing, she had already gone to approach the woman, standing across from her.

"Here." Therese slipped a piece of paper onto the table near the woman's hands. It was the passcode to the wifi. It said "HUBBACUPPA, pass: THANKSALATTE". The woman looked up at her, not unlike the way someone looks up at their personal savior.

"You are an angel." The woman said. Therese felt a crimson rush of emotion, feeling the flush of red attack her whole body in a frenzy. She felt herself blushing, and made to turn away quickly, but not before she caught the woman giving her a cheeky wink, that set her soul on fire. Therese managed an almost inaudible, "oh, it was nothing you know my pleasure" before retreating back behind the counter, smiling hard while looking at the floor, praying to God that the woman wasn't looking at her reactivity to her words.

After a few minutes, the woman seemed to get up to leave. Therese's head jerked up, and the woman had come up to the counter to talk to her.

"Thank you very much. I don't know why your co-worker felt the need to hide it from me. Thankfully, you were here to save me." Therese said nothing, only coyly looking away from those blazing grey eyes. She wished she could dive into them and get lost in oblivion.

"Anyways, thanks for the coffee too. I think I'll have to come back some time." She winked again, and left the Cup Hub without looking back. Therese's gaze trailed after her until she completely left the field of her sight. A sudden wave of sadness came over her, because she would never know when she would come back, or whether she'd ever see this woman again. She had half a mind to hack the shop's wifi system to see who had accessed it in the past 24 hours so she might get some information on who she was. But before she thought too hard about it, she saw that the slip of paper she had wrote the wifi code on was suddenly on the counter where the woman had stood. It had two things on it. A phone number and a name. "Carol."


End file.
